HP Photosmart 1000 Ink Cartridges Printer Review

Expert review of the HP Photosmart 1000 printer05 April 2012

Our Verdict:

This versatile photo printer claims to deliver high quality photo output and the ability to print directly from a wide selection of digital cameras. The HP Photosmart 1000 promises realistic images, wireless printing, and faster print speeds, but it is slightly expensive and could use more RAM, a better paper feed, and a more user-friendly set up process.

Design

HP designed the Photosmart 1000 with direct-printing capabilities in mind. Some of its distinctive features include 2 built-in memory card readers. The control panel has colourful buttons and a small LCD screen. The 100-paper capacity tray has a smaller feeder for 20 4x6-inch photo paper. A high-speed USB 2.0 cable or Parallel USB cord connects the HP Photosmart 1000 to your computer.

Advantages

Double-sided printing is one of the main perks of the HP Photosmart 1000. The printer is fairly fast at 4.4 to 11 ppm in black text ('best' to 'draft' mode), and 8.5 ppm in draft mode when printing graphics and colour text. The HP Photosmart 1000 is rather compact and can fit into limited desktop space, being 17.32 inches wide, 14.56 inches deep, and 7.72 inches tall.

Disadvantages

The HP Photosmart 1000 lacks a larger and better LCD display where users can preview their photos if they are printing directly from a memory card. The outdated technology means it can only accommodate a limited number of memory cards like Microdrive, CompactFlash, and SmartMedia cards, so the direct-printing feature is useless for those who have xD-Picture Cards and Sony Memory Stick flash memory. The HP Photosmart 1000 becomes sluggish when printing on 4x6-inch photo paper, taking approximately 2 minutes to finish the job. Neither USB 2.0 nor parallel cable is included in the package.